12 ZELAYA The Despot and Dicta tor of Nicaragua. r -rVii iCARAGFA was called by | u its Spanish conquerors Mo ha,llu,<fd's Paradise, writes Thomas 11. Dawley in the New York Times. It was a land where the native liven without toil —a land of eternal summer, producing much with little labor. Neither did the people goto war, but under the despotic rule of Jose Santos Zelaya all this was changed. The poor Indian has had to hustle. And not only has the poor In dian had to hustle, but his ladino mas ter. who always exploited him as well, for the despot .lose Santos Zelaya must have wealth, and he made his subjects, whether ladino or Indian, shopkeeper or merchant, hustle to get It.and ii for no other reason the peo ple hated him. For 10 years this despot has ruled the country with a rod of iron. Those who would not submit to his rule, or even demurred, had to die or get out. It is said that 10,000 of his people Imve been driven into exile, but this is undoubtedly an exaggeration, as the total population of the entire coun try does not exceed half a million, and less than a third of this belonging to what is known as the ladino or creole element. The rest are Indians, pure and simple. They never leave the country. While a great deal has been said against Zelaya as a man, there is one thing that cannot be said against him and which his enemies never have at tempted to say against him, and that Is that he is not a brave man. It usu ally takes a brave tnan to rule any one of the turbulent Latin American t<o called republic. Hia/ of Mexico b'-gan his career as a soldier and a revolutionist, and so did hi- compeer, J. Ruflno Barrios of Guatemala. Castro of Venezuela, while not a soldier, began his career sis a fighter and a leader. With a band of poorly armed cow herders from his native mountains he raided a few bor dering towna and fought his way on to Caracas, where he lauded himself in the presidential chair. I'.ut Zelaya differed from these in that he began bis career as the gentie- Tnanly son of a planter. He had little rise to do than ride over the vast es tate belonging to hi.-, father. He was sent to school at the capital and given all the education that his masters could supply. Extravagant in his tastes, lie drew 011 the old man's purse strings, leaving the plantation frequently for the town, where he was the leader among a gathering of young men of about his own age and circum stances. For amusement they paraded the streets of the town at night, twanging the guitar strings and sing ing love songs to their sweethearts. Had Zelaya been content with this amusement he might have succeeded to the ownership of his fathers es tate and have passed the remainder of his days in quiet, comfort, for his country was quietly, yet strongly, ruled by the conservative President Oharmora, his party having been in power since the final defeat of the American filibuster Walker, who had landed on the coast with his sfi immor tals and fought his way to the presi dency. Zelaya told his young friends and compatriots that he did not approve of the conservative rule. His talks became speeches; he grew bolder.and denounced the government openly, with the result that he was thrown out. in other words, he was exiled. Jle sought refuge in Guatemala, then ruled by .i. Ilullno Barrios, the first of the stern liberal rulers of the Portfirio Diaz type. No country was ever more complete ly organized und§r a military rule than was the liitle republic of Guatemala at that time. Barrios had not only re organized a very much dilapidated army, but he had virtually created a V w one. lb 1 had stationed garrisons in all the little towns, strung his country with a network of telegraph wires, ordered his local commandants to report by wire to the uational capi tal daily at sundown that all was well, and thus he had established peace in his country and put an end to revolu tion that was lasting. In this army of Barrios, Zelaya, the exile from Nicaragua, sought and ob tained service. Commissioned only a lieutenant, for Barrios was frugal with his commissions, he was soon given a place 011 the president's staff, where he took full advantage of the opportu nities given him to study the "old man's" method of governing a would be troublesome republic. Barrios, the strong man of Central America, had his life's ambition ever before him, and that was the unifica tion of the five Central American re publics. It was this ambition that led to bis undoing, for one bright morning in February, 1885, a proclamation ap peared nailed upon the door of the capitol, and upon the doors of the cabiklos, or town halls, throughout the republic announcing that he had uni ted the five republics, and lor fear that some of them or all of them might see fit to disunite he was at the head of an army of:! 0,000 well-discip lined troops marching to the first and strongest one of them, San Salvador. It is said that a similar proclamation appeared on that same morning on the breakfast table of each of the presidents of each of the other four republics informing them that they had been united, or annexed, as they claimed. However, marching with Barrios at the head of that, army of 30,0ut), the grandest army Central America had ever seen, was the young lieutenant and exile. Jose Santos Zelaya. But Salvador did not propose to be either united or annexed, and liarrios, the greatest president undoubtedly whom any of those turbulent little republics have ever known, rode to his death, fie fell upon the plains of Chalchuapa, mortally wounded, in the very act of leading his army to victory. Young Zelaya was not only a stanch admirer of old Barrios, as he is affec tionately remembered, but he believed in him and his methods of government. As he rode by the side of him to that fatal battlefield of Chalchuapa he ex pected to continue with him across Salvador and Honduras into his own country, where he would see the prin ciple for which he had stood and for which he had been exiled, thoroughly established. But with the fall of Bar rios the army which he was leading (led. Zelaya returned to Guatemala, where he received a promotion for bravery on the field, and there he con tinued in the army of Guatemala until the opportune moment arrived, when he threw up his commission and dis appeared. It was in the early '9os that he re appeared in his own country leading a band of insurgents against the gov ernment. He met with success flora the very commencement of his cam paign, and it was not (ong before he landed in that ultiinat goal of All CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1909. successful revolutionary leaders, the presidential chair. There is an old saying in Central America to the effect that in dealing with your Inferiors you must hold out a piece of bread to them In 0110 hand while you grasp a club in the other. This is very much 1 lie principle upon which Zelaya has maintained his rule in Nicaragua. He offers his people bread with one hand, and when they are not satisfied they get the club. When one sees the tatterdemalion soldiers of these Ceutvr.l American armies for the first time not oMj is he inclined to laugh, but he entertains grave doubts of their efficiency as sol diers, yet it is only with such soldiers as these that, the satrap maintains his despotism. Strange to say that the men who make up the rank and file of these armies are not warlike. They are usually harmless, peace able fellows, if let alone, and their greatest desire is to be let alone. But they are not let alone. They are sim ply picked up, corralled or captured as the case may be, and given to under stand that they have got to obey, and it is this understanding that makes them good soldiers. They are not supposed to know, and do not know, anything about politics, or it' called upon to fight, what they are to fight for. They know who their chiefs or officers are—who the presi dent is. and as long as this president is alive, and the officers who command them stay with them, they will fight to the end, and it is this military strength that keeps the despot in pow er in face of all the hatred and opposi tion which may be brought against him. Ze'.aya learned the power of this stupid military force as an officer in the army of Guatemala under Barrios, and he has made good use of it, al though he has not succeeded in per fecting its use so thoroughly as old man Barrios did, for he has had many revolutions to contend with and put down during his 1G years of power. Some say that this is because Zela ya is neither as stroug a man or as clever a man as Barrios. Barrios be gan his rule by having a dozen dis turbers of the public peace and se curity taken out in the public plaza and shot. That ended the matter. There were no more disturbers of the public peace and security, and I here were no more public executions. But Zelaya, it seems, has had to keep up the execution of his fellow-citizens all along throughout his 10 years of occu pation bf the presidential chair. As to his having converted the Mo hammed's Paradise into a country of comparative activity there can be 110 doubt, in this respect he lias done precisely what Barrios did in Guate mala. He has shaken the Indian out of his lethargic state and made him work or go into the army, or both. With liis labor he has strung telegraph lines all over the country, herded cattle and planted coffee, and whenever his army needed strengthening or there was a revolution on hand he has had him brought in as a volunteer soldier or recruit and putin the army. On the other hand, the merchants, planters and business men of 'the country have had to increase their earnings as best they could and pay bim oftimes arbitrary tribute or tax ation. As an example of his methods in this respect, during an invasion of the country by a large force of revolution ists from Costa Rica, he kept a care ful account ol all expenditures in put ting down tile revolution, at the same IVERNMENT PALACE, MANAGUA, THE CAPITAL OF NICARAGUA. time keeping tab on all the merchants, capitalists and planters who were In sympathy with or aided and abetted the revolution in any way. He then, after having put down the revolution, drew upon each one of these sympa thizers for a specific amount, accord ing to his capital, to defray the ex pense of putting down the revolution. It is frequently stated, and with a good deal of truth, that there Is never more than one political party in Cen tral America, and that is the party in power. But as a matter of fact, there is and always has been been two well defined political parties. There are tjie conservatives on one side and the liberals on the other. The reason fol ks being stated that there Is only one political party is the fact that which ever party is in power maintains its despotic sway to such an extent that no opposition does show itself in any form whatsoever. Sometimes there is a pretense of having an election, but such an election is more than a farce for, should any misguided element of the population or section of the coun try be beguiled into believing that they were going to be allowed to vote sure enough and put up a candidate in opposition to the government program, Ihe uniortunate candidate would be surely taken out and shot. Zelaya's predominating characteris tic is his courage. He is absolutely fearless, and that is one reason why he Is more thoroughly hated than any one of the other Central American satraps. The other reason is, like that of his preceptor, old Barrios of (!uate mala, his one ambition has been to unite the live republics tinder one government, with himself, of course, at its head. Various have been his schemes and projects to accomplish this end. At one time fomenting a rev olution in Salvador, he has failed in that, direction. At another time he suc ceeded in placing Davila in the presi dential chair of Honduras with the understanding that Davila would unite- Honduras to Nicaragua, only to have Davila tell him togo to the devil after ids seat was safely secured, and Costa Rica has always been a thorn in his [ side because he couldn't got up any I revolution there, in which something | might accrue to his benefit or to his ! ]iet scheme. For .these reasons Zelaya has come to be? known as the mischief maker of Central America. Compared with some of tlie other j rulers who are or who have been in j the limelight, he in undoubtedly the ! boldest and bravest of them all, with | the single exception, perhaps, of Cas- I tro of Venezuela. But he is a different I type of man from Castro, who was of I low origin and as vicious as he was low. Zelaya is educated, and ho is very much of a gentleman in his man ner and personal appearance, while Castro was not only ignorant, but he was a personification of the brute in human form. On the other hand, there is the present ruler of Guatemala, Cabrera, who is a rare exception to them all, for he is a despicable coward main tained in power by a host of satelites, who cajole him and flatter hiin, mak ing him believe that he is the greatest man on earth, while they, as a mat ter of fact, hold the reins of a despot ism as arbitrary, cruel, and corrupt as that of Nero, who fiddled while Home was burning. AVOIDS DANGER FROM GERMS Theater Doorkeeper Careful to Cleanse Fingers While Hand ling Tickets. "1 use a wet sponge at all times when taking tickets," said a certain theater doorkeeper of St. Louis, "be cause of al! men in the world the ticket taker is most exposed to con tagious disease. When you stop to figure on the thousands of tickets I handle every year—perhaps one for every person in St. Louis —you can I readily see what a great chance there j is of germs coming to me with the j tickets. The idea of using a sponge after every ticket was brought to my j attention by a very prominent physi j cian of St. Louis some time ago. He | stopped on his way into the show one i night and said: 'Come up to my of j flee to-morrow, I want to show you j something that you will not regret.' "Wondering what in the world it j was hp iiad to show me, I called 011 j bim, and he then took a bunch of ! tickets from bis d< sk and under the i microscope showed me that 1 receive hundreds of little germs with every piece of cat-board, and that any of j them are apt to contain germs of a ! type to cause consumption, skin trou -1 ble or a half hundred other tilings. This fixed me. I thanked liini, bought a sponge and have used it faithfully over since. Hach time that 1 touch a ticket I wash off my finger by rub bing it across the wet sponge. It isn't much bother and it has undoubt edly lessened my chances of dis sease." "The average person is In too much of a hurry to take the time to secure protection against these apparent dan gers," said a well-known bacteriologist of St. Louis, "but it pays in every sense of the word. The cashier should keep a small sponge on hand at all times over which she could draw her fingers every time they come in con tact. with the picket or coin from * patron. It finally comes mechanic ally." The Mean Man. Wife (crossly)—" Well, have your own way, and then you'll be satis* fied." Husband—"l'm not so certain about that. I had my own way when I married you, but I'm not satisfied." — Judge. SIXTY-FIRST CONGRESS MEETS Speaker Calls the House to Order and Is Ap plauded by Friends and Enemies Alike. Vice-President Sherman Presides Over the Senate—Nu merous Bills Designed to Carry Out President Taft's Policies Are Introducd in Both Houses. By EDWARD B. CLARK. Washington. Dec. 6.—The Sixty first. congress of the United States met at noon to-day for the first day of its first regular session, with Vice- President Sherman in the chair of the senate, and Speaker Joseph G. Can non in the chair in the House. While this congressional gathering is the first regular session, it is the second session in reality, for congress met in extraordinary session last spring at the call of President Taft to consider the matter of a revision of the tariff. Some interest was lacking in the proceedings of the first day in the capitol because at the beginning of the extraordinary session in March last the speaker of the House was elected. Moreover, before the extra ordinary session was ended, Speaker Cannon appointed all the committees which are to take legislation under consideration for the next two win ters. The appointment of the commit tees ended the campaign on the part of the members for choice chairman ships and, if the chairmanships were not forthcoming, for seats in the more important subsidiary bodies of the 112 fous. Ready for Work at Once. The members have had time to get over jealousies and rivalries and so is that, so far as committee work is con concerned, the House not only is ready to proceed at once to consider legislation, hut most of the members have brought themselves into a frame of mind to do what they are called upon to do without regard to their past feelings of disappoinment and perhaps, anger. As is always the case 011 the open ing day of congress, admission to the House and Senate galleries was by card and only those fortunate enough to know senators and representatives sufficiently well to secure admission tickets were allowed to witness the proceedings. Galleries Are Crowded. The galleries of both House and Senate were jammed with people. All classes of Washington society were represented in the throng of visitors. The diplomatic gallery in the House and in the Senate as well, was filled to its fullest capacity with ambassa dors, ministers, attaches and tho la dies of the different legations. Mem bers of the families of the president and of the vice-president of the United States occupied seats in the executive galleries; and tlie cabinet and judici ary and army and navy circles were well represented. By a rule which was adopted not long ago, flowers are barred from the floor of the House excepting when they are to be used as a tribute to the memory of some deceased member. The result cf this rule is that now on the opening days of congress the desks of the members are bare of floral decorations. In the old days Vice-President Sherman. both House and Senate were turned into conservatories for t''«- time of the opening proceedings. At sharp noon Speaker Cannon called the House to order and asked the chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, to offer prayer. In his prayer which was in a sense a Thanksgiving offer ering, the chaplain referred to the • prosperity of the country, the oppor tunities of the present and the bright hopes and promises of the future. Absentees Are Few. As soon as the prayer was ended the clerk of the House called the roll of membership by states and it was found that there were only a few ab sentees. The roll call ended the read iug clerk of the Senate who had ap peared in the House was recognized, and he announced that the Upper House had passed a resolution to in form the House of Representatives that a quorum of the Senate being as sembled, that body was ready to pro ceed to business. The House also was told that the Senate had appoint ed a committee to join a House com mittee to inform the president of the United States that a quorum of each house was present and that congress was ready to receive any communica tion that he "may be pleased to make." On receipt of this message from the Senate, Speaker Caniiou ap pointed a committee to join a like committee ol' the Senate to wait upon the president. The members of the body directed to notify Mr. Taft that the House was in session were by the appointment of the speaker, the Re publican leader, Sereno E. Payne, anil the Democratic leader, Champ Clark. The lirst day in the House as usual brought out hundreds of legislative measures in bill form, all of which were read by their title only and then referred to the proper committees, lr was evident from the tone of the bills introduced that some scores of rep resentatives were anxious to father measures which had been recommend ed by President Taft as being neces sary to carry out proposed policies of progression. The bills ranged from those intended to correct alleged ex isting evils in interstate commerce tr> those to give increases of pensions to veterans of the civil war. Applause Greets Speaker Cannon. If Speaker Cannon anticipales any particular trouble with the "Insur gents" of the House at the coming ses- Speaker Joseph G. Cannon. sion. he gave no evidence of it when he took the chair as presiding officer. He was greeted with great applause from the galleries and from the floor of the House, many of the Democrats and insurgents joining in the demon stration, though in either case pos sibly the hand-clapping was given as an evidence of regard for the office of speaker, rather than as evidence of any overweaning affection lor tho speaker himself. With the committees ready to begin work, the House will settle down to its winter's business at once. No bills will be passed immediately because all measures must be considered in committee, and (he meetings of the committees will be held daily from now until the Christmas holidays and some of the more important House bodies will sit during the recess. When congress reassembles in Janu ary many of the committees will be ready to report bills, and the debates of the winter will begin. Opening of the Senate. Vice-President Sherman called the Senate to order at noon. Rev. Ed ward Everett Male, the chaplain of the Senate, having died during the summer recess, his place as chaplain, temporarily, was taken by a local clergyman who offered prayer. In the Senate the roll was called and it was found that nearly all the senators were in their seats. The resolutions were adopted to the effect that com mittees he appointed to inform the House and the president that the Sen ate had assembled and was ready to begin tlie business of the session. As was the case in Uie House many bills were introduced for consideration dur ing the winter by senators who, like the representatives, desire to have a hand in forwarding administration pol icies. After a comparatively short session "in the open," the galleries were cleared and the Senate went into ex ecutive session behind closed doors for the purpose of considering nomin ations for office sent to the Cpper House by President Taft. Tests of Diamonds. Most persons are obliged, in the purchase of a diamond, to rely im plicitly upon the word of the man who sells the stone. While many years of observation and experience are needed to become an expert with respect to the value and purity of diamonds, yet there are certain extremely sim ple tests capable of being made by the most inexperienced. One is by means of a needle hole pricked through a piece of ordinary cardboard. Looking through the stone tested at the cardboard, one will see two holes if the diamond be spurious —only one if the gem be genuine. The reason for this is that an imitation diamond will give a double refraction, the real stone but one refraction. It is claimed that there is 110 acid having any perceptible effect upon a genuine diamond. Hydrofluoric acid will, if dropped upon a stone made of g'ass, corrode it, but upon the bona fide stone it will have no effect at all. Harper's Weekly.
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